Summery things to do in Surrey

What is a heatwave?

The Met Office describes a heatwave as a "prolonged period of hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity".

The World Meteorological Organization says a heatwave is "marked by unusual hot weather persisting for at least two consecutive days during the hot period of the year based on local climatological conditions, with thermal conditions recorded above given thresholds.”

They are common in the northern and southern hemisphere during summer, but classification and impacts vary globally.

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

Why do heatwaves happen?

The Met Office says heatwaves are most common in summer when high pressure develops across an area.

High pressure systems are slow-moving and can persist over an area for a prolonged period of time such as days or weeks.

They can occur in the UK due to the location of the jet stream , which is usually to the north of the UK in the summer. This can allow high pressure to develop over the UK resulting in persistent dry and settled weather.

When will this heatwave end?

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

Nobody is too sure, as is the nature of the weather.

Forecasters say there is a good chance of thunderstorms breaking on Monday onwards and slightly lower temperatures in the coming week.

But Paul Gundersen, Met Office chief meteorologist, said temperatures will rise even more by the weekend.

He said: “For the first time this year, we have seen temperatures very locally top 30.0C, with 30.1C on Monday.

"However, we are anticipating that temperatures will increase further over the next couple of days. It’s possible that some locations could reach 32.0C.

“The focus for the highest temperatures is expected to shift towards the west of the UK into the middle of the week, and then northwest, before temperatures potentially begin to hot up again in the south over the weekend."

When might it rain?

Those of us unaccustomed to such relentless warm weather may be keeping our fingers crossed that a nice rain shower is on the way soon.

For Surrey the Met Office predicts a 40% chance of rain on Thursday afternoon, so it is by no means guaranteed!